Thursday, July 10, 2008

In honor of this weeks pending release of The Dark Knight, the sequel to the critically-acclaimed 2005 Batman Begins, I've decided to share with everyone the expanded score from that original film. Unlike the commercial release, it's tracks are titled appropriate to scenes, and it - of course - contains all of the additional musical material left out on the CD. Why, oh why, do studios punish us by only releasing portions - often less than half - of the beautiful musical scores that acompany our favorite films and shows? I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to be a composer for the industry, and see your work chopped up into bits that fit well for a 45 minute commercial offering.

Saturday, July 5, 2008

I have just obtained a copy of the original score to Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight which opens in theatres July 18th. I have been waiting for this film all of my life, in one way or another. The early reviews of the film itself have compared it with "The Godfather, Part II" and other such highly regarded films. The Oscar buzz surrounding the late great Heath Ledger is massive, and began well prior to his untimely demise earlier this year. The film, from everything I have heard, read, seen, experienced, and been privy to, is surely to be an epic unlike anything we have seen before. I believe it will redefine the "comicbook" film from what it has been, to what it will be in it's wake. Serious drama, serious actors, and serious story-telling will take the place of the more "comic" aspects of things. I am dyeing of anticipation to see it at 12:01 AM on Friday the 18th of this month. All of this said, to be able to hear the musical counterpart to the film now, two weeks prior, is a privilege. A privilege I am pleased to share with all of you.

A friend of mine wrote his detailed review of the scores tracks, and I can not improve upon such, so I will simply share it with you as a commentary to accompany it. It has been included in the ZIP file archive as an RTF (text) file. I urge you to read it.

UPDATE: OK folks, third times a charm! The first copy I uploaded was lower-than-I-like quality, and corrupted the final track at 6 minutes. The second copy had better quality, but the final track was corrupt once more, this time at 12 minutes. Well hot off of a torrent, I've acquired a full and functional copy for you all. So... again... enjoy.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Composer Mike Verta, after a visit to ILM (Industrial Light & Magic - the SFX house) where he saw Star Trek XI being worked on, was inspired by the premise of the film, it's youthful and re-energized characters, to create his own take on the classic 1960's series original theme song. He has made it available for download for all, as it was done purely in fun and is in no way linked to Star Trek XI or any other venture. I think it's utterly fantastic. I'm sure you will too.